Image: Haiku by Matsuo Bashō reading “Quietly, quietly, / yellow mountain roses fall – / sound of the rapids“. Excerpt from the book Who’s Your Grandma, page 44, modified and expanded for this blog. Poems, such as the Limerick, Acrostic, Haiku, Sonnet, Octava Rima, and others, require detailed writing instructions. Let’s look at the specifics […]
(Plus simple directions for writing your own sonnet) A Brief History of the Sonnet You might be familiar with these words: limerick, sonnet, haiku, tanka, shape, concrete, ballad, acrostic, and cinquain. They are all types of poems, and each has its own particular structure. This blog post, though, will focus on the sonnet. The sonnet […]
Poet and Author Steven Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) Have you read the classic novel The Red Badge of Courage by Steven Crane? It has been required reading at many high schools and colleges in past years. Crane also wrote the short stories “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” and “The Open […]
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is a children’s classic as well as a favorite poem for many adults. When I was a child, the nonsense words actually created a visual in my head. I heard “slithy toves” and could see the adjective “slithy,” which to me was something akin to slippery or […]
“On the other hand, give me the dog’s eye and some dead horse.” My cousins Terry and Rick visited the other day after they had eaten lunch at an Australian restaurant. Terry, who has lived in Australia, said he ordered “dog’s eye and some dead horse.” What he actually ordered was meat pie and some […]
I read a silly poem 55 years ago and immediately memorized it, and I still remember it to this day. Most people I know can recite it from memory, too. In 1895, American writer Gelett Burgess published his poem “The Purple Cow” in his magazine The Lark. The poem’s original title was “The PURPLE COW’S […]
